The best razor I will ever use is The General by Colonial, with Kai Captain or Feather Pro blades. Today I saw on Facebook that the gents that own Colonial have a limited number of General aluminum heads in stock for $29. (They call them silver, not because they're made of it, but that describes the color.) My General razor head is without doubt the best in terms of performance that I have ever used, so I bought a backup just in case a day comes that my General ceases to exist. I will actually put it in my safe deposit box at the bank. I will also put a handle and maybe even some blades in there with it. Call me crazy, that's OK, I am crazy about this razor.

Gary, where did you get the General? I might need one I found it in brass at Colonial Razors. $99. New aluminum head adds $29. I guess it is too perfect for me right now. It's stranger that they say the finish is not perfect. Colonial has a very limited amount of merchandise and is run by a couple of brothers, as I understand their facebook post. They say they are buying them from a mass production company, but I have never seen the razor before.

Hi Pete. Both of my General aluminum heads have come from Colonial. (I don't have the second one yet. It's still in transit to me and I should have it in 3 or 4 days.) I may be mistaken but I think I read a post somewhere by one of the brothers, saying they decided against stainless steel in favor of brass. I don't know if anyone else is selling them.

I am just getting used to blade razors after my long stent in the hospital. Mostly, I use very safe razors like the Bic sensitive or Schick hydro and mostly brushless cream because I can shave dressed and clean up is easy. I am working into my brush and other razors gradually.

Gary, you are not the only one that ordered a backup from Colonial! I have two complete razors in the silver finish. One is at my parent's house just in case my house burns down. It is that good! I prefer the Feather Pro over the Kai Mild Pink blades, but only by a small margin. However, I want to try the Kai Captain Original, Kamisori, and the Schick Proline P-30 blades. Have you tried any of these?

Pete, when Feather started making these blades, the only razor in production was the Feather Artist Club (AC) barber straight razor. Later on, other companies made their own brands of the straight razors. Then, someone designed and built the Cobra to use these blades. Meanwhile, Kai started making the Captain copy of the Feather blade. The next thing that happened was the wave of razors designed to use the Feather/Kai/Kamasori, etc. blades. Examples are Mongoose, Razorock Hawk, General, Asylum, and maybe a few others. The Feather blade manufacturer doesn't have any interest in making a new list of all of the razors that will use their blades, as they come on the market. Feather just knows they're selling blades like hotcakes. The guys who use these razors are lucky to have several brands to choose from. There is one manufacturer that makes a copy of the Feather that does NOT fit these other brands of razors, and that brand is Dorco if I understood correctly. I suppose the Dorco blades will fit the straight razors, just not the Cobra and it's progeny.

Tucker wrote:Gary, what handle do you find works well with the General? I am going to pass on the brass version. At 130g it is too heavy for my tastes.

Tucker, I apologize for failing to respond. I am using a handle that was made a few years ago by Bob Smith of Bob's Razor Works. Bob has passed away about 5 years ago, unfortunately. This one he called the Bull Mastiff Deluxe. It even has a magnet in the end of the handle to make it easy to pick up razor blades.

By the way, I found a gent on one of the forums who wanted to trade a brass General for a particular razor that I happened to have, so we made the deal. I didn't care for the fact that the brass handle has no knurling or other features to assist with gripping when wet. My search for a brass replacement resulted in the discovery of a very clever and inexpensive knurled brass handle. Now I have 3 General razors with very little expense involved. Imagine that!

Sam, I find the Colonial General to be mild, and a great daily driver. I find the Hawk to be more of a medium aggressive razor that excels on a multi-day stubble. Both are excellent razors. I hope the aluminum version of the General comes back, as it is very nimble. Both are here to stay, but if I could only have one, it would be the General.